Fallen Family
by Indulgence-Ahoy
Summary: War is imminent. Sans and Papyrus only have each other to rely on. The world is changing everything they ever knew, including them.
A/N: Ok, this requires a bit of explanation. Since there is only one chapter left in My Brother's Keeper to post, I am preparing for my next Undertale story: "Fallen Family". I actually wrote Fallen Family first but in the form of a comic. I wasn't happy with it and put it on hold while I worked on My Brother's Keeper, which I started during some down time during a family visit in Mexico (That's why the first few chapters are so short, since I wrote them in between dealing with family drama)

Anyhoo, what I'm trying to say is that this short its actually me trying to revive this comic. You can see the pages I did draw under redkam-arts on deviant art if you are curious and yes, I will be redrawing those pages since the timeline of the story has changed. I can't actually write scripts for comics, so I tend to write short stories instead to guide me. I thought this one was good enough to post.

For reference, this takes place in an AU that starts before the Barrier was created.

* * *

Young Papyrus had all sorts of opinions about snow. It was pretty. It was interesting. It sounded funny under his feet. It was cold, and wet, and sludgy, and cold, and cold, and cold, and cold!.

He rationalized that it was a good thing that he was a skeleton and - as he was told - didn't feel hot or cold quite as easily as a non-skeleton monster. The snow all around him must be particularly cold because he could feel it all over his already aching bones.

Still, the wind was worse. He had NO opinions about wind before coming here. Back in the Royal City, he never gave it much thought. It was just something that pushed small trash around the street or brought in smells of early morning baking to his bedroom window. Here, wind tossed snow in his face, it moaned among the trees and threaten to snap branches on top of him.

He huddled closer to his older brother Sans as they walked. Sans put his right arm around his shoulders, pulling him even closer to him as the wind picked up and howled around them. Papyrus swallowed a yelp. He didn't want to look afraid in front of his big brother but he couldn't help the tiny orange tinted tears coming out of the corner of his eye sockets.

Sans stopped suddenly and looked around trying to get his bearings. All Papyrus could see were trees and rocks silhouetted against a darkening sky. It would be night soon and there was no sign of the town they were so desperately trying to reach. He couldn't help but notice that Sans was leaning on him a little too heavily and that he was breathing kinda funny. Sharp intakes, followed by careful and long exhales.

Papyrus grip tightened on his brother's coat when they continued walking, anger bubbling just below his fear. They wouldn't be in this predicament if Sans had just been watching where he was going. He wouldn't have fallen down that steep hill and lost the bag with their meager supplies along with the map they had worked so hard to get. Sans was probably hurt too even though he wouldn't admit it. He was just such distracted doof sometimes! Now they were hungry, cold and lost! What was wrong with him?!

"I HATE YOU!" exclaimed the young skeleton and he felt Sans body immediately tense up.

"papyrus?" he asked.

"I HATE THE SNOW!" repeated Papyrus correcting himself. He didn't hate his brother, not at all! It ... it was just that all of this ... well sucked.

"funny. this morning you were saying that you loved it" commented Sans relaxing just a little bit.

Papyrus gritted his teeth against another gust of wind.

"THAT WAS BEFORE YOU LOST OUR BLANKET AND ALL OF OUR FOOD" he said bitterly.

Sans stopped again and was quiet for a while. He looked like wanted to say something but failed. Instead he defaulted to his usual "sorry". Papyrus closed his eyes and his head felt hot despite the cold. Why was he being so horrible?!

"I'M REALLY SORRY" he said looking up at his brother's face "I DIDN'T MEAN IT"

Sans smiled at him. It was a weak smile but a smile non the less. "s' ok"

The wind howled and pushed them forward a little bit. They both trembled in each other's arms.

"ARE WE GOING TO BE OK?" asked Papyrus looking like he would climb into Sans' coat if he could.

"yes" said Sans, maybe a little too quickly. He coaxed them forward towards a path that looked like it provided a little more tree cover. "more importantly, we'ere going to keep each other ok, ok?"

"OK"

They walked for an hour or so more. Papyrus' bone aches had gotten worse and his head was throbbing. His small body was upright only because Sans kept him up and walking but they both knew that was a losing battle. The young skeleton was on the verge of passing out and the storm was growing worse. They needed to find shelter fast.

Suddenly Papyrus felt himself being lowered down the ground gently and his back propped against a hard surface. He shook his head to clear his senses some. "SANS?"

He saw his brother walk a few feet away and inspect something a little shorter than he was. Papyrus' tired eyes were too blurry to make out what it was. He saw Sans get on his hands and knees and go inside it. Papyrus rubbed his eyes and squinted. It was too small to be a building.

He got up and stumbled over to where Sans was. He realized that what Sans was crawling in and out of was actually a small cave that had been partially covered by snow. Sans was busying himself clearing out the snow inside the cave.

The prospect of shelter gave Papyrus a second wind and started helping his brother out with the snow clearing. However, after a couple of hauls he found himself swaying and Sans insisted that he go inside the cave. He pouted and sulked but went inside anyway. His brother joined him soon after and started piling snow at the entrance to act as a bit of a cover against the wind. Papyrus felt guilty at letting his brother do all this work but it was taking all of his energy to keep awake.

He heard Sans groan as he position himself next to him with his back towards the opening of the cave. There was barely any space left for him to lay down flat so he had to settle with having his legs folded in front of him. Papyrus shuffled over and curled up next to him with his head on his chest. He was only a head and a half shorter than his brother despite being 3 years younger. He vaguely wondered if he would ever be taller than his older brother.

Unfortunately, despite Sans' best efforts to cover the entrance to the cave, it was still very cold. They wrapped their long scarfs around them tightly and shivered together.

Sans stroked Papyrus' forehead. It was very hot. It was so unusual for Papyrus to be sick. He only remembered one other time he had seen his brother come down with something and that had only been after he had been injured by Corbel. It had been a situation Sans had promised himself to never let happen again.

Papyrus whimpered as the sickness felt more overwhelming now that he didn't have to concentrate on just walking.

Sans gulped. The pain on his left side was growing as well but he didn't want to spare any attention to it. The purpose that had been driving him forward was fading now that they were stuck in the cave at least until the next morning. He really wanted to sleep but was afraid to do so. He needed to keep an eye on Papyrus' condition.

"SANS?" he heard Papyrus said. His eyes were still closed and his grip firm on his shirt. "SING TO ME, PLEASE"

Sans couldn't help to roll his eyes a little bit. He _hated_ singing. He wasn't very good at it, but for some reason Papyrus loved it.

"... not really feeling it, little bro"

"PLEASE...?"

Uuuuugghhh.

 _"Bring back the season*."_ Sans sang quietly. It was one of the few songs he knew. It was a song popular among elemental monsters and of Papyrus favorite lullabies.

 _"Bring back the time._  
 _Bring back the wonder that used to be mine._  
 _Laughing and splashing, we lived in a glow._  
 _Bring back the wonder we knew long ago._  
 _Bring back the wonder we knew long ago."_

He felt his brother's body relax against him. He was still shivering and was crying quietly. It took all of Sans will to not break down crying in fear himself. Denial was all he had. _They weren't in trouble. They weren't going to die there_.

 _"Wind on our faces, and race on the lawn,  
Life was so new it would last on and on.  
I was in love with the soft river flow.  
Bring back the wonder we knew long ago.  
Bring back the wonder we knew long ago."_

By the time he finished the song, his voice was barely there. His body was giving up on him. Papyrus felt heavy against him. He was unconscious.

Sans panicked. He rubbed his brother's back and wracked his brain on what to do. Outside, the storm was now raging. They had gotten cover just in time but it wasn't going to be enough. The bitterly cold wind was still managing to sneak inside their refuge.

He hugged Papyrus tighter and concentrated. He prayed that the magic that cursed them into their situation would help now. He reached deep inside of himself and commanded his magic to reach out for Papyrus' soul. He was acting on pure instinct. On pure hope.

They were both enveloped in warm blue flames. It had been such an unexpected pleasant feeling that Sans had been temporarily taken aback and the flames had flickered and almost gone out. Sans caught himself in time and concentrated again. He closed his eyes. He would do anything it would take to save them, to save his brother.

5 HP...

It hurt.

4 HP...

Hurt more than he ever knew something could hurt.

3 HP...

It was hard to breathe. But they were warm.

2 HP...

He really needed to sleep. He hated sleep.

1 HP...

*Song lyrics are from "Bring Back The Wonder" from Fraggle Rock.


End file.
